I did not "...PR [personal record] the shit out of this!" like I had hoped.
In fact, this face pretty much sums it up.
I didn't get a lot of sleep Friday evening even though Lillie has the most amazing Godparents ever that kept her for us. My stomach was doing the weird flip-flopper and my brain was going into the "you suck" mode that it always seems to go to whenever I'm about to run a race. There was also some friend drama that had to be taken care of [as in me being an amazing person with an amazing shoulder to cry on and an amazing ear to listen]. But nevertheless, I managed to crash around midnight with my alarm set at 5:45.
Is it weird to want to physically hurt your alarm in the morning? Because that's definitely how I felt when it went off, but I jumped up, grabbed my clothes & kicks, and headed out the door anyways.
The race wasn't scheduled to start until 7:30am but the bag pick-up was from 6am-7am. And since it's about a 45 minute drive for me, I thought it'd be best not to cut it too close. Pretty easy to find and no problem with parking. There were only about 300 participants, so pretty small. The lady with the megaphone yells at us to start walking towards the starting line and to get ready because she likes her races to start on time. I appreciated that, but totally imagined her as the bossy kid at the playground that nobody liked because we always had to do what she wanted to do.
I was struggling with my iPod. And had a temporary freak out when it wouldn't cut on. Turns out my fingers were just wet with sweat because it's July in Texas. Got it adjusted and ready to go as I talked to an older gentleman [60ish] who explained the course a little bit and warned me of the last hill before the finish line. And then I went to turn my Garmin on and it was being a buttpaste-face. I don't know what its deal was, but next thing I know people are jostling me and every one is running. So, I said screw it I don't need to know my pace. And started going.
It was beyond the word humid. The temperature at 7:30 was already in the 80s and the sun was not cutting any of us any slack. They had water stations at mile 1 & 2, but I seriously wish I would have brought my own water. I have never ran in this type of heat [usually on the treadmill in AC or racing in the winter months], and seriously misjudged it and the amount of water I needed.
And something else I've never really done - hills. This little race was pretty much uphill the entire race. From the start to mile 1 just a steady incline, then a few rolling hills into mile 2 and then it evened out for .5 and then I saw it. The hill. About halfway up it, there was one of the photographers who caught this gem -
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| I don't see it, but my husband thinks I have a weird running stride. I do, however, see the weird running face. |
But seriously, who the hell puts a photographer up a horrible, horrible hill to take photos? Just flat-out mean.
When the hill finally let its evil grasp of me go and I turned the corner to see the finish line and the giant clock ticking away, I really pulled it together and pushed but when I realized that my time was 42:45 and I had no PR, all I really wanted to do was sit down and cry.
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| Rwwoar!! T-Rex hands! |
It did help me realize that I have a lot of work to do to prepare for my first half in January. So, I bought a couple of books today.
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| Something for the mama... |
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| And something for the Lillie. |
Let the training begin!
2 comments:
Some races just aren't your best, and that's so okay! Don't even sweat it :)
One time, I ran a race (that I had trained for) but I had Five Guys for lunch and didn't get enough sleep, and I basically walked the whole thing. It was embarrassing then, but now I realize, bad days just happen. Weather, sleep, diet, all that good stuff come into play. When we ran our half marathon, a bunch of the water stations ran out of water... That was uhm, totally lame!
I have a camelback, but I don't know how I feel about running with it. It seems like it'd be heavy?
The only tip I have is to be fitted for shoes (a running store can do it) and make sure you have an awesome pair! An injury will really set you back, and poor shoes or shoes that aren't good for your running style will lead to that. You can find training schedules online, we just used a free one and kinda tailored it to our schedule, that worked for us!
Your book will probably have SO many tips!
OH one more thing (haha, sorry), when you're running and you get to the water station, run to the one up front, it's usually not as busy. Then, once you get your water, squish the cup a little, so it makes a triangle shape. That way you can pour it right into your mouth and you won't get it up your nose!
I happen to love your first picture. I would frame it and put it on my mantle.
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